Traveling is a Fool's Paradise

Thoreau began an essay with this topic sentence and then proceeded to elaboarate on the why- the usual stupid stuff: You can't escape your problems or yourself, you carry your worries, when you get back your shortcomings are still there: blah, blah, blah. Well, if Travel is a Fool's Paradise- then I am a fool-for this trip was paradise.

Thoreau is often quoted for his transcendental, ecological, passive resistance views. I never bothered to read much of what he wrote- it was ho-hum for some in the sixties, and now that we are in our 60's- he's still being quoted and he is still rather "like so what".

Travel cleansed my soul. The views, mountains, rivers, accommodations did remarkable things to me- I called it our Woodstock, something never to be repeated. The people were lovely, generous, considerate and became a unit. Something none of us shall ever forget or be able to recapture.

But back to Henry David- obviously he didn't travel much. If I remember correctly, mostly he stayed in his home town and staged his tax protest by living in Emerson's back yard, camping out. Had he seen the Bow River, Athabasca Falls, the Columbia Ice Fields, the dining room at the Empress Hotel, or the Banff Castle- it would have done him much good. But then again he didn't live in our time where an escape from the cities provides a much needed cleansing of the soul. We forgot our trouble, left the worries behind and lived in the moment with and for each other.

I'm glad I got to know these people- like Woodstock Nation, we came together, cared for each other. And a wonderful thing happened to me- I found that I enjoyed helping the folks who needed assistance. I looked out for those who needed a little attention and discovered that that was why I became a teacher- something in me has always tended to be sympathetic to those whom I can help, love, and learn from. Serving is its own reward; virtue is the essence of the eternal in us, something many never discover.

On our last day in Calgary I discovered I might want to go to Stratford, Ontario to see what is supposed to be an excellent production of the The Most Lamentable Tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe (Mid-summer Night's Dream). Then in October we'll go to Orlando, followed by a 45th class reunion in Dundalk in November and the wedding in December. Whew- we'd better get some rest.